Today, 802.11 wireless networks operate in two frequency bands. 802.11b/g in the 2.4 GHz spectrum and 802.11a in the 5 GHz spectrum. 802.11 wireless clients in most laptops and other devices are shipped with 802.11b/g band as the default band. Indeed, the majority of 802.11 devices are either only in the 802.11b/g band or are preferentially in the 802.11b/g band. In a specific instance at a trade show, it was noted that about 95% of devices at the trade show got onto the 802.11b/g band even though perhaps half of the devices were 802.11a-capable. Over-utilization of the 802.11b/g band can result in throughput degradation and other problems.
It may be beneficial to move “all” 802.11a-capable devices to 802.11a wireless band, and create room in the 802.11b/g band. Most 802.11 Wi-fi phones will be in 802.11b/g band for a long time to come. So moving all the capable data services to the preferred band is welcome move for voice services, so that there are more channels available, for Vo-Wifi services. Moreover, 802.11a may actually have a faster data rate and a higher capacity than the 802.11b/g band, making the 802.11a band even more desirable from a throughput standpoint. In addition, microwaves, cordless phones, and other interfering devices today primarily affect the 2.4 GHz space. So moving normal data services to 802.11a can potentially reduce interference.
Although it may be desirable to migrate wireless clients towards a band that is underutilized, it is not a trivial task and effort is currently being expended to resolve the issues associated with this problem. Even if one band is not necessarily favored, by chance or for other reasons, one band may become over-utilized. In this case, load balancing across the bands may be of value to improve throughput. Proactive techniques may also be of value in ensuring bands are load balanced before the load becomes significantly unbalanced across the bands. On the other hand, migrating wireless clients preferentially from, for example, an 802.11b/g band toward, for example, an 802.11a band can result in over-utilization of the 802.11a band, and a reduction in overall throughput.
These are but a subset of the problems and issues associated with load balancing across bands of a wireless network, and are intended to characterize weaknesses in the prior art by way of example. The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. For example, wireless clients may use different protocols other than 802.11, potentially including protocols that have not yet been developed. However, the same problem of excess concentration of users on a single band may persist as long as one band is preferred. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.